The Bugs in the Backyard: The Elusive Ones

I saw a bat this morning, just after dawn. I was so happy to see it. It is well known that bats are in a bad way, due to some kind of fungal disease, and so I almost never seen them anymore. I used to see them every evening in summer, a few of them, but now... A couple of times a year. It's sobering. I also saw a couple of dragonflies today. This also made me happy, as I have not seen anywhere near as many dragonflies this year. And when I was sitting out on the back porch steps near dusk there were two of them flitting around. Two is not enough, there should be more, but two is more than I see most evenings. So two is good. Funny thing, that someone so interested in and fond of insects should be so happy to see animals that prey on them, but it's all about balance. Besides, many of the insects bats and dragonflies eat are mosquitoes, and I don't need any more of those. I am currently covered in mosquito bites from the last time I mowed the lawn. A balanced ecosystem needs predators. So, bats and dragonflies, I am happy to see you around.

Speaking of dragonflies... Backyard Co-Bug of the Day #1:

A skimmer (which I guess is a family of dragonflies? The book doesn't make that clear, except it says they are "the quintessential dragonflies." But the division of family is the part that I am confused about. Anyway...). Species common whitetail. I see them around on occasion, but this may be the first time in years of photographing bugs that I have ever gotten a good picture of this species.

Here it has caught something and is eating it.

Zoomed in shot. I can't tell what it's eating, but it has wings.

We were working outside today, replacing our front walk, and the dragonfly spent most of the afternoon just hanging out on a rock nearby. Seriously, it sat there for hours, mostly only moving when I thought it was getting complacent enough that I could try for a close-up picture. Then it would fly a lap around the rock garden and settle down on a different rock. It would move back to this one when I gave up and went back to work. This was repeated several times. It had no problem with the fact that we were working about three feet away from it - sometimes less - but as soon as I picked up my camera, it had an urge to work out its wings.

Landing on my work gloves, which I removed to use the camera, is its way of telling me who's boss.

Maybe it wanted to help with the project?

Backyard Co-Bugs of the Day #2:

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail. Butterfly. Scientifically, Rhopalocera. I learned that from a comic strip today. I knew butterflies were in the order Lepidoptera, which includes butterflies and moths. What I know now is that butterflies are Rhopalocera, and moths are Heterocera. And I use the word "know" in a very loose sense, because I am sure I will forget those names forthwith. And obviously I already knew that butterflies and moths were different divisions of Lepidoptera. I just didn't know the names of those divisions. Or that they had names other than butterfly and moth. This is why you should read the comics: you might learn something.

I am giving in and having Co-Bugs of the Day again today because both of today's BBotD are nearly impossible to get pictures of, so I am, as they say, going with the bird in the hand. No, that's probably the wrong maxim. Anyway, I might not have another chance with either. I see tiger swallowtails on occasion, but usually when I see them they are flying about twenty feet above the ground. I hardly ever see them actually feeding on flowers in the yard. But as you can see by the two pictures here, they actually fed on the flowers-I-always-thought-were-astilbe-but-apparently-aren't, and the purple coneflowers. Yes, this did involve me chasing a butterfly across the yard, but in a pretty casual way. I realized years ago that it generally does no good to chase a butterfly. But I have gotten pretty good at reading them, so today I knew it was worth it to go where it was going. But I did so in an unhurried manner.

Okay, there may have been some running at some point, but like I said, this was a rare gift for me.

So, bask in the glory of the eastern tiger swallowtail butterfly!

It's not easy to get pictures of a butterfly...

I'll bet you are wondering if the purple coneflowers were as popular today as they were yesterday. Well, maybe not as popular. In particular there weren't a lot of bees today, possibly because it wasn't sunny (not that you should take that observation of mine as fact regarding bees. I just know that in my yard, I am more likely to see bees, and a lot of them, if it's sunny). But the purple coneflowers were still the place to be if you were a bug, compared to other places in the backyard. Heck, the eastern tiger swallowtail butterfly paid a visit, after all.

Purple coneflower bugs:

Ambush bugs, of course. I would say 1 in 3 of the flowers in this cluster of 20 or so have ambush bugs lurking on them.

This may be the same hopper, in the same spot, from yesterday.

Still don't know what these are, but they are making the rounds of the flowers in the backyard this year, and so naturally they are at the purple coneflowers.

Still trying to get a really good flying picture...

This is a species of bee that I don't think was there yesterday.

Tumbling flower beetle, hiding

I feel like this plume moth is being disloyal to the milkweed.

So many tiny beetles...

Just like yesterday, I didn't do a regular bug walk today, because I was outside working, so I just did some wandering (and chasing of butterflies) during work breaks, and at the time it didn't seem like I had seen a lot of bugs. But as it turns out, I took almost 600 pictures, and found quite a lot. So... I don't know what I am talking about.

Random Bugs:

This assassin bug has taken up residence on a particular Black eyed Susan.

A tiny Hemiptera trying to help with our project.

Crane fly

I don't know if this is a different caterpillar living on this flower (there has been one there for a couple of weeks), or if it has changed color.

Ambush bug on balloon flower

This is the caterpillar of a moth called The Brother. Latin name, Raphia frater. I don't know where that name came from. It's your basic brown moth (well, it has patterns on it. But it's brown).

Caterpillar close-up. Caterpillars have cute feet on their prolegs.

A glimpse of the face and legs. A couple of eyes visible.

Another caterpillar, this one in with the raspberries my husband picked in the backyard today.

Raspberries are popular with bugs.

A couple of case bearing beetle larvae

An unusual view of a hopper.

I found a couple of crickets on the top of the rain gauge. Here's one...

And here's the other.

Side view

This is the first praying mantis I have found in the yard this year. I'd say it's less than half of its future adult size. I didn't find any egg cases in the yard last fall, so I don't know if this hatched in the yard or not - I would think that if mantises hatched in the yard I would have seen smaller ones than this before now.

~~Another species of tumbling flower beetle~~ Wedge-Shaped Beetle

I found a couple of these today.

So, Who's On the Milkweed Today?

A young assassin bug who has perhaps chosen the wrong place to sit and wait for prey, because the milkweed has been quite abandoned. I wonder what has happened to all the milkweed bugs, and milkweed beetles. I have given up hope of monarch caterpillars.